Point (album)

Point is the fourth studio album by Japanese recording artist Cornelius.[1] It was first released in Japan on October 24, 2001 by Trattoria Records,[2] and later re-released worldwide in 2002 by Matador Records. It peaked at number 4 on the Oricon Albums Chart.[3] The album was released on CD again by Warner Records in 2019, along with a second disc of the Five Point One music video collection.[4]

Point
Studio album by
Cornelius
ReleasedOctober 24, 2001 (2001-10-24)
GenreShibuya-kei
Length45:29
Label
ProducerKeigo Oyamada
Cornelius chronology
Fantasma
(1997)		 Point
(2001)		 Sensuous
(2006)
Singles from Point
  1. "Point of View Point"
    Released: 2001
  2. "Drop"
    Released: 2001

Composition

In a retrospective piece, Drowned in Sound's Samuel Rosean describes Point as a Shibuya-kei album, albeit "only [in] the most abstract and contextual manner", noting that its "spacey guitar and synth-heavy production" was more comparable to artists such as Stereolab and The Notwist.[5]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic82/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Alternative Press8/10[8]
Blender[9]
Entertainment WeeklyA[10]
The Guardian[11]
Muzik4/5[12]
NME8/10[13]
Pitchfork7.8/10[14]
Q[15]
Spin7/10[16]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Point received an average score of 82 based on 24 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[6] Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly described Point as "11 irresistible sound collages that feature driving beats, amiable guitar acoustics, and a quadraphonic sense of aural play that encourages rampant headphone abuse."[10] LA Weekly's Dan Epstein found it to be a "consistently whimsical and inventive" record,[17] while The A.V. Club's Noel Murray called it "a magnificent piece of pop architecture."[18]

AllMusic editor Heather Phares found that despite Point eschewing the "stylistic about-faces" of Fantasma, "the restraint and cohesion Oyamada brings to the album make its louder and crazier moments... that much more distinctive".[7] Blender's Alex Pappademas deemed it an improvement over Fantasma, with less "stylistic range" but a more refined pop sensibility.[9] Fiona Sturges of The Independent found that Cornelius had "honed his cut-and-paste sensibilities into something more coherent and utterly beautiful."[19] Nick Southall of Stylus Magazine said, "More rounded and less determinedly schizo than Fantasma, Point is a great album of delicious odd-pop made by a whimsically modest genius.[20] Guardian critic Garry Mulholland was more critical, panning the music as "noises in search of a song, a groove or, indeed, a point".[11]

Music videos

For the album's tour, Cornelius and his band created music videos for each song, which played behind them. Richard Wolfson of The Daily Telegraph described the overall effect, "A Cornelius show is a blur of precision-perfect stops and starts, visual gags, unusual camera angles and sudden visceral leaps into new musical and visual styles."[21] In 2004, Matador Records released a DVD called Five Point One including all these music videos.[22]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Keigo Oyamada, except "Brazil" by Ary Barroso and Bob Russell.

No.TitleLength
1."Bug (Electric Last Minute)"0:38
2."Point of View Point"3:54
3."Smoke"5:48
4."Drop"4:53
5."Another View Point"5:35
6."Tone Twilight Zone"3:39
7."Bird Watching at Inner Forest"4:22
8."I Hate Hate"1:43
9."Brazil"3:27
10."Fly"5:40
11."Nowhere"5:48
Total length:45:29

Charts
Chart (2001–02) Peak
position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[3] 4
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[23] 47
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[24] 17
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References
  1. McClure, Steve (February 27, 2002). "Signs of the times". The Japan Times. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  2. "point" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  3. "CORNELIUSのアルバム売り上げランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  4. "Cornelius / コーネリアス「Point」". Warner Records (in Japanese). Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  5. Rosean, Samuel (December 29, 2018). "A Beginner's Guide: Shibuya Kei". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  6. "Reviews for Point by Cornelius". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  7. Phares, Heather. "Point – Cornelius". AllMusic. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  8. "Cornelius: Point". Alternative Press (163): 68. February 2002.
  9. Pappademas, Alex (February–March 2002). "Cornelius: Point". Blender (5): 111. Archived from the original on August 18, 2004. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  10. Burr, Ty (February 15, 2002). "The Week". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  11. Mulholland, Garry (February 22, 2002). "Cornelius: Point (Matador)". The Guardian. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  12. Bell, Duncan (January 2002). "Cornelius: Point". Muzik (80): 60.
  13. Johns, Darren (January 26, 2002). "Cornelius : Point". NME. Archived from the original on June 12, 2002. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  14. Abebe, Nitsuh (January 31, 2002). "Cornelius: Point". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  15. "Cornelius: Point". Q (188): 117. March 2002.
  16. Winter, Jessica (February 2002). "Cornelius: Point". Spin. 18 (2): 110. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  17. Epstein, Dan (March 13, 2002). "Cool Schmool". LA Weekly. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  18. Murray, Noel (March 29, 2002). "Cornelius: Point". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  19. Sturges, Fiona (February 15, 2002). "Cornelius: Sing something simian". The Independent. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  20. Southall, Nick (September 1, 2003). "Cornelius – Point – Review". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  21. Wolfson, Richard (February 5, 2004). "Visions of the future". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  22. "Five point one". World Cat. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  23. "Cornelius Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  24. "Cornelius Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
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